Refrigerator cabinet having drawer baffle means



March 10, 1959 R. E. KING 5 5 REFRIGERATOR CABINET HAVING DRAWER BAFFLE MEANS Filed May' 20, 1957 INVENTOR. RALPH E. KING H is ATTO R NIY United States Patent REFRIGERATOR CABINET HAVING DRAWER BAFFLE MEANS Ralph E. King, Louisville, Ky., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application May 20, 1957, Serial No. 660,183

Claims. (Cl. 62285) The present invention relates to refrigerator cabinets of of type including one or more storage drawers and is more particularly concerned with a baffle arranged for preventing ice and water from an evaporator from dropping into a storage drawer.

Refrigerator cabinets of the type in which normal air circulation within the cabinet is relied upon to maintain a substantially uniform storage temperature within the cabinet ordinarily have the refrigerant evaporator or at least a portion of the evaporator disposed adjacent the top of the refrigerator. For cabinets of this type in which shelves are provided for the storage of food stuffs, a fixed baffle or shield is ordinarily provided to prevent any ice or defrost water from the evaporator from dropping onto the contents of the cabinet. However, when drawers are employed for storage purposes, fixed baflles having a slope sufiicient to provide for the proper drainage of defrost water will seriously interfere with the available drawer storage volume. Furthermore, in the case of freezers provided with storage drawers, where the contents of the cabinet or drawers are below freezing temperatures, moisture collecting on the baflle or on the bottom surface thereof may during the automatic defrosting of the evaporator drop into the drawers and freezein contact with the stored foodstuffs.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a bafile arrangement for a drawer-type refrigerator or freezer which will shield the contents of the storage drawer from ice and water dropping from the evaporator.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an ice and water bafile or deflector for collecting ice and water dropping from an evaporator when the drawer is in its closed position and for discharging gthecollected material when the drawer is moved to an open, position;

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become'apparent from the following description and the features of novelty ,which characterizethe invention will be pointed out with particularity in ,the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

In'accord'ance with the present invention, there isprovided a refrigerator cabinet including a storage cor'npartment, an evaporator positioned in the compartment and at least one storage drawer slidably supported below the evaporator. In order to shield the contents of the drawer from ice and water falling from the evaporator either during normal operation thereof or during defrosting, there is provided a flexible bafile between the evaporator and the drawer which is adapted to cover the drawer ,when in its closed position and to flex downwardly behind the drawer when the drawer is opened in order to discharge any ice or water collected thereon.

For a better understanding of the invention reference may be had to the accompanying drawing in which the single figure is a side elevational view, partly in section, of a refrigerator cabinet embodying the present invention.

Referring to the drawing, there is shown a refrigerator cabinet or more specifically a freezer cabinet including an inner liner 1 forming a storage compartment 2 for the storage of frozen foodstuffs. The compartment 2 is maintained at desired storage temperatures by means of an evaporator having one portion 5 extending across the top of the storage compartment to form a freezing shelf for freezing trays 4 and a second portion 6 extending downwardly along the rear and bottom walls of the compartment. The evaporator forms part of a refrigerating system including a motor compressor 7 and a condenser (not shown).

The access opening to the storage compartment 2 is closed by a closure member in the form of a. drawer front 8, the space between the drawer front 8 and the face of the cabinet being sealed by means of a gasket 9 extending around the peripheral edge of the drawer front 8. The drawer assembly includes an open rectangular framework comprising the cross members 11 and 12 which support a removable storage pan 14, the ,rectangular framework being slidably supported by drawer supports 16 secured to the opposite side walls of the compartment 2. There is also provided a second or upper storage bin or pan '18 which is supported by the same drawer assembly as the lower bin 14 and which is normally movable with the lower assembly when the drawer is opened or closed. For access to the lower pan 14 when the drawer is in the open position, this upper pan 18 is so supported on the supporting framework that it can be moved rearwardly independent of the drawer assembly. For this purpose there is provided at the rear of the pan 18 a pair of rollers 20 which ride on the drawer supports 16 while the forward end of the pan 18 is supported on a portion of the drawer framework by the legs 21. The legs 21 cause the upper pan 18 to move forward with the drawer assembly whenever the drawer is opened. If access is desired to the lower pan 14, it is necessary merely to lift or move the forward edge of the pan 14 to a position in which the legs disengage the supporting framework whereupon the upper pan 18 can be moved rearwardly into the cabinet to expose the contents of the lower pan 14 when the drawer is in the open position.

For more detailed description of the drawer assembly of the foregoing type, reference may be had to the copending application of William R. Jewell, S. N. 616,230 filed October 16, 1956 (now Patent 2,843,441) and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a. flexible baffle or shield for protecting the contents of the storage pans '14 'and18 from the ice and water which. may. drop from the" ,evaporatorflsectior 5 either during normal operation of therefrigerator or durin'g the 'defrostin'gfof the evaporator. H I I p f v The baffle'or shield generally indicated by'the numeral 24 ,is preferably composed o f a resinous sheet material,

flsuch. as, polyethylene, or a thin sheet of metal, such 'as stainless steel, and is arranged within the storage compartment so that it completely covers the contents of the drawer assembly when the drawer is in its closed position.

In the modification of the invention shown, the baffle or shield 24 is secured at its forward end to a rod 26 extending across the front of the compartment ahead of the forward edge 27 of the evaporator portion 5 and is also fixedly secured or anchored at its rear most edge water or water vapor collecting thereon for example during the defrosting of the evaporator section may freeze particularly when the cabinet air is at sub-freezing or freezer temperatures. Accordingly, means are provided for not only discharging water collecting on the surface of the baffle but also for periodically flexing the battle 'insuch a manner as to break loose any ice adhering to the bathe. For this purpose there are provided rollers .or slides 31 and 32 which when the drawer is opened cause the baffle 24 to flex positively down over the rear edge 30 of the pan 18 at an angle which is sufiiciently sharp to break loose any ice collected on the bafile. More specifically, the baffle extends from the rear support 29 ahead of the rod or slide 31 connected to the lower portion of the pan 18 and movable therewith and over the slide 32 supported by means of brackets 33 adjacent the upper rear edge 30 of the pan 18. By this arrangement of the slide rods 31 and 32, with the slide 31 relatively close to the bottom of the pan 18 and to the anchor 29 and substantially on a line between anchor 29 and rod 32 when the drawer is closed, the distance from the anchor 29 to the anchor 26 by way of the slides 31 and 32 is substantially constant whether the drawer is in its closed position, as shown in full lines of the drawing, or in its open or dotted line position.

Therefore, by this arrangement, it is possible to prevent any substantial slack in the flexible baffle when the drawer is moved from one position to the other. In a preferred form of the invention the slide 32 is positioned rearwardly of the rear edge 30 of the pan 18 so that ice or water collecting on the bottom surface of the baflie 24 will not be discharged from the bafiie until it has reached the slide 32 behind the pan 18 at which point it will drop to the bottom of the compartment 2 along with the ice and water discharged from the upper surface of the baflie 24.

In order to dispose of the normal defrost water from the evaporator structure as well as that collecting and discharged from the batfle 24 there is provided a drain 35 in the bottom of the compartment 2, the water passing through the drain 35 collecting in a pan 36 which is in heat exchange relationship with an oil cooling tube 38 connected to the compressor '7. Moisture collecting in pan 36 is thereby evaporated to atmosphere.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it is not desired that the invention be limited to the particular construction shown and described and it is intendedby the appended claims to cover all modifications within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A refrigerator cabinet including a storage compartment, an evaporator positioned in said compartment, a drawer slidably supported below said evaporator and a flexible bafiie between said evaporator and drawer for shielding the contents of said drawer from ice and water .falling from said evaporator and means carried by said drawer for causing said baffle to flex progressively downwardly behind said drawer when said drawer is opened.

2. A refrigerator cabinet comprising a storage compartment, an evaporator in said compartment, a storage drawer structure slidably supported below said evaporator, and a flexible baflie between said drawer and said evaporator for shielding the contents of said drawer from ice and water falling from said evaporator, means for fixedly anchoring to said cabinet the forward and rear ends of said bafile respectively ahead of and behind said drawer, a portion of said vbalile extending downwardly over the rear portion of said vslidable drawer structure whereby movement of said drawer causes flexing of the remaining portion of said baffle to release material collected thereon.

3. A refrigerator cabinet comprising a storage compartment, an evaporator positioned in the upper portion of said compartment, a storage drawer slidably supported below said evaporator and means shielding the contents of said drawer from ice and water falling from said evaporator comprising a flexible baffle extending over the open top of said drawer in its closed position, said baffle having its forward end anchored adjacent the front of said evaporator and its rear end extending downwardly over the rear edge of said drawer and being anchored to said cabinet below the top of said drawer.

4. A refrigerator cabinet including a storage compartment, an evaporator positioned in the upper portion of said compartment, a storage drawer slidably supported below said evaporator and means shielding the contents of said drawer from ice and water falling from said evaporator comprising a flexible 'bafile extending over the open top of said drawer in its closed position, said bathe having its forward end anchored adjacent the front of said evaporator and its rear end extending downwardly over the rear edge of said drawer and being anchored to said cabinet below the top of said drawer, and slide means carried by said drawer engaging the downwardly extending portion of said bafiie when the drawer is moved to an open position. i

5. A refrigerator cabinet comprising a storage compartment, an evaporator in said compartment, a storage drawer slidably supported below said evaporator, and a flexible bafiie between said drawer and said evaporator for shielding the contents of said drawer from ice and water falling from said evaporator, and means for fixedly anchoring the forward end of said bafile ahead of said drawer and the rear end of said baflie behind said drawer and below the top thereof to maintain said baffle in sliding engagement with a rear portion of said slidable drawer structure whereby opening movement of said drawer causes flexing of said baffle over said rear portion.

References Cited in the fileof this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 688,010 Simmons "Dec. 3, 1901 1,868,495 Einermann July 26, 1932 2,667,400 Wotring Jan. 26, 19.54 

